A Game of Love
by Odeeyou
Summary: She couldnt help it if she always fell for the younger guys! He just... did this to people. Did this to her. And he was completely ignorant of it too! So what does she do? (Surprise Pairing)
1. Default Chapter

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm still slightly new to the Hikaru no Go manga as I've been reading it in Shonen Jump magazine. So a few characters are slightly alien to me. This story obviously takes place in the future.

Also, I know little to nothing about Go. Except that it's a strategy game.

If I do something wrong, a character, the history, the game, anything, please don't fail to tell me so that I might rectify it. Though if you flame me, I would appreciate if you did it with good reason.

I might get a few. I don't think I've seen this pairing before and I felt like experimenting. I've got nothing against yoai. I just can't write it.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Hikaru no Go. I'm not sure who does but I give full credit to them for a masterful manga and anime.

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She was a good person. She really was. Sure, she had a few… discrepancies… a few black marks on her record. But who didn't? (Pining after a 15 year old boy…) At least she wasn't alone in it! Come on! Its not like she was proud of herself!

Akira just did that to people. His well-behaved manners, (When not around Shindo.) His easygoing personality, (When not around Shindo.) His intelligence, (When not around Shindo…) Okay then, his feminine masculinity then…

All of said traits were something that most women adored and wanted nothing more in a man. All of said traits were also incredibly hard to find in a man. Which is why so many women pined over Akira. (Herself included.) So difficult were these traits to find in a man that, if you were to find one, that 99 percent of the time he would either be gay, or be taken.

Again, Akira for example. (Yes, Akira is gay.) He came out in public with in when he was 16. She was shocked and disappointed at first. Who wouldn't be, if you were pining over the guy? But after a day of thinking it over, she wasn't that surprised.

A lot of people could argue however, which side of Akira was the real one. There was the polite, well-behaved, well-groomed, intelligent Akira… and then there was the Akira seen with Shindo.

Looking at him in a tournament, or even playing a friendly game with him, you would think him to be the most emotionally controlled person in the world. Apathetic you could almost call him.

That idea would go out the window in the first ten seconds you saw him in the company of Hikaru Shindo. He would laugh out loud, grin, smile, shove, yell, and argue… (Mostly argue.) You could almost call it a pastime for them. Second only to playing a game of Go.

They loved to argue.

Reminding her ironically of an old married couple, she had dryly commented to the both of them that maybe the two of them should try dating.

Hikaru and inhaled the soda he was drinking at the time and began to cough uncontrollably for the next five minutes. Akira had dropped the Go stones all over the floor and looked at her with an expression that read, 'Your kidding, right?'

Neither of them would talk to her nor even look at her for a week after that, she remembered fondly. Hikaru was odd anyway. She couldn't really remember him saying that he'd had a preference. Or a love interest either.

Hikaru Shindo… now there was an enigma if there ever was one. She remembered the first time she had ever seen him. He'd come to the Go Salon looking for someone to play. He'd told her… "I've never played before. But I think I'm pretty good!"

She laughed at the time, because she remembered seeing the honest to goodness truth in his statement. But after what happened, what he'd said… was a little frightening.

He had played Akira, and he'd won.

She would see later what his capabilities were in Go. How strong he was. But what happened that first day at the Go Salon… was something else. And everyone would say so for a long time.

Hikaru never did explain that. Never even tried. He could play a perfect game one day, and the next he'd be playing at an amateur level.

If you asked him about it, about when he first started to play Go, he would sometimes get a weird little smile on his face and not say anything. His way of saying that it was his secret to be kept.

Other times he would get this sad look on his face as though he had lost something or someone very precious to him. On both counts, there was just no way to push the argument if he refused to talk.

The last look though, she had seen on the face of another before. That sad face as if all that you truly cared about had just been striped away from you. On Akira she'd seen that face. And to see on someone else, namely the cheerful Hikaru, had been one of the strangest sights. It had been one of the saddest sights as well.

Now, four years later, she felt like beating her head on the wall repeatedly. Asking herself, "Why me?"

She had it bad. And she didn't even realize when it had happened. Or how it had happened. What was worse is that she didn't have anyone to blame.

He just… did this to people. To her.

Maybe it was how his eyes could glow if someone were to turn all the lights out in a room. Or how they seemed to be able to look into your soul.

Maybe it was his toned body that she happened to see when she saw him jogging in the park one Sunday afternoon. A toned body that was usually alien to most Go players.

Maybe it was his kind and caring attitude. Even if he sometimes ignored it and you. (Not intentionally.) If something were wrong, he'd be the first person to ask you about it, 'worry' written on his face. She'd seen him kindly stop a bicycle coming down the sidewalk so he could save a Caterpillar.

Maybe it was his smile. When he smiled a true smile, and it would light up the entire room and make a person completely forget their troubles. And focus completely on what he was saying.

There she was, drifting off to la, la land. She did not need this! But she couldn't honestly say that she didn't want it. Akira was going to have a field day with this.

She, Ms. Ichikawa, Harumi, had fallen for Hikaru Shindo.


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: Another chapter, another disclaimer reminding you that I do not own Hikaru no Go, nor is it likely that I ever will. Not that I ever would want to. Because I doubt I could ever do it justice.

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Harumi sighed where she sat at the desk of the Go salon, where she had worked for the last six years. Since she was sixteen. Not that she would dream of working anywhere else. This was helping to pay her way through college.

Despite the silence, day in and day out, with only the mutterings of a bunch of old men and the 'pachi' of stones on the Go Boards… this place held her friends. Her family. Her crush…

And it was for this reason that she sat at the front desk of the Go salon. Sighing helplessly. Wondering just how she was going to get him to notice her. When it came to matters of love, Hikaru was just as clueless as Akira. If not more so.

Hikaru Shindo cared about three things. Go, Sports, and Ramen. Everything else was either put into a sub category of his thoughts, or they went completely over his head. It wasn't that he was careless of people's feelings. He just… didn't know how to deal with them.

At least he was honest about it. He wouldn't pretend to think he were interested when he wasn't. He'd tell you strait out. Even though she liked that about him, it also meant she had to be careful about how she confronted him about it.

Speak of the devil…

"Hey Akira! Hikaru…" She said with the faintest of sighs as her two foremost patrons walked in. The both of them completely oblivious of her star-struck-ness.

"Ms. Ichikawa." Akira greeted. Polite as ever. She used to find it endearing. But now it just grated on her nerves. Almost as much as Akira's manners rubbing off on Hikaru. He'd grown his hair out though, and tied it in a small ponytail in the back.

"Mam." Hikaru greeted as he came through the door. Sparing a glance at her when he came in, his hair was still exactly the same (bleached bangs) as he ran his hand through it. He handed her his backpack on the way in.

She gritted her teeth for a moment before replying. "From Akira I've come to expect it. But at least you, Hikaru, could call me by my first name. Harumi. Ha-ru-mi." She glared at him playfully. "After all, we've only known each other for five years."

Hikaru smirked at her. "Harumi, huh? I didn't realize we'd gotten so intimate with each other." He wagged his eyebrows at her.

Despite the fact that she knew he was just playing with her, she couldn't keep the blush from her cheeks. Which didn't go unnoticed by Akira and a few of the other Go players at the Salon.

"Okay, Harumi." Hikaru smiled at her. Speaking her name as if testing it out. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Harumi…" He spoke it slowly, almost at a whisper, and sending a small chill down her spine. "I like your name. Kinda rolls of the tong."

She fought the blush rising to her face but she couldn't fight the smile that came. He liked her name! Step one was commencing! Get Hikaru more comfortable around her. Get to know each other a little better. She just prayed he didn't turn out to be gay like Akira.

She heard a few snickers from people around the room. Even Akira had to fight the urge to grin. Glaring at all of them, she watched at Hikaru just laughed it off as the two Pro players made their way to a table in the back.

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As the two pros sat down, with Hikaru sitting with his back to 'Harumi,' Akira laughed softly under his breath as he caught on to what was going on. 'Poor Hikaru.'

"What are you laughing at Touya?" Hikaru asked suspiciously. His question however went unanswered. "Yeah, laugh it up now Touya. But you wont be laughing when I wipe the Goban with you face!"

This however only sent Akira into greater laughter when he saw Ms. Ichikawa sigh wistfully while looking at poor Hikaru.

One game later, Hikaru beat Akira easily and without much effort. Which only annoyed him further because he knew Akira wasn't even trying. Hell, he didn't even seem to care. Standing up, he glared at his rival.

"The one day you have your head in the clouds, would be the one day I was looking for a challenge." He grunted as he tugged on his jacket. He waited for the inevitable argument and shouting match to begin.

Yet nothing came. Nor did anything look to come. In fact, Akira grinned the biggest grin he'd ever seen on his rival. "You have your head in the clouds every day, Shindo." He replied calmly.

Hikaru looked at him oddly. "Yeah, but its normal for me. Today was just… weird." He gave a small shudder. Fake or real, it didn't matter. Making his way to the front of the salon, he went up to the front desk where Ms. Ichikawa already had his backpack waiting for him.

"Thanks Harumi." He replied, though his thoughts seemed to be elsewhere. This shocked and amused people at the Go salon. Because Hikaru was known for his short-term memory.

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After Hikaru had left, and Harumi had sighed softly with a smile on her face as she watched him leave, Akira and a few of the older patrons of the salon approached her at the front desk.

"So, 'Harumi'" One of the older patrons addressed her while putting extra emphasis on her name. "How long has this been going on?" He asked slyly.

Harumi felt her cheeks redden for what felt like the hundredth time that evening. "I- I don't know what you're talking about." She told them and pretended to clean the already spotless desk.

"I reckon its been going on at least a month." Another one answered his question. Rationalizing it. "She's progressing, though. She might actually stand a chance."

Harumi beamed at him at the thought. "You really think so!" She exclaimed before she could think properly. "I- I mean, I don't know what you're talking about I told you! I have no feelings what so ever for Hikaru."

Every member around her suddenly grinned at her ferociously, making her wonder what just happened. "Who said we were talking about Hikaru?" One of them pried, even though it seemed they already knew.

Harumi growled and ran a hand over her face before threatening them all with a knuckle sandwich and a weeklong ban from the salon. Which sent the old men scurrying away quickly. Though Akira was still standing. You really couldn't threaten the guy whose father owned the salon.

"What do you think Akira? Is it a hopeless cause?" She rubbed her eyes before looking at Akira, who had a small, but genuine smile on his normally passive face.

"No. It's not hopeless. You just have to make it simple for him. He'll come around. And if he doesn't, he'll tell you strait out. At least you know you won't be on a wild goose chase."

'That seemed to put her at ease.' Akira thought to himself. Still, he thought she might need a push in the right direction. "Just don't take too long. I saw Waya eyeing Hikaru before. And I know Akari has definitely had her sights on Hikaru for a while now."

"Waya's gay? And who's Akari? I don't believe I've met her before." She began to worry over the prospect of competition. 'What if they get to him first? The only time I ever see Hikaru is here at the Salon!'

Akira watched her in her plight with amusement. Though she didn't seem to notice. "Don't worry. Hikaru had refused Waya's attempts before. Though Waya seems to think he's playing hard to get. Akari is an old friend of Hikaru. She's had her sights on Hikaru for a long while now. Though Hikaru has always shown only friendship, you can't be too careful."

Akira watched the resolved face of his old friend and had to smile. Although Waya might be a problem, he knew Akari and Hikaru were only good friends. Still, it would be interesting to see what Ms. Ichikawa (Harumi) would do when she was determined.

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Harumi closed the Salon later that night. A now burning fire in her eyes as she resolved to win Hikaru's heart at all costs. She just had to follow Akira's advice. She wondered when he had suddenly come to know problems of relationships so well? Maybe everything really could be compared to a game of Go?

No matter. She had other pressing thoughts on her mind. Like how was she going to come up with an excuse to see Hikaru on her down time? What was she going to say to him? And she had to scope out the competition…

"Let the game begin." She said with a growing smile on her face.


End file.
